Native Roots expands into Colorado Springs, Dead Prez plays and more

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Native Roots says it's the largest medical-marijuana dispensary chain in Colorado, and that number continued to grow with the opening of the company's first Colorado Springs store at 3660 Austin Bluffs Pkwy. last Saturday. Two more area locations are coming, says district manager Andreas Nilsson, and customers should benefit from the fact that they're all part of the same system.

"You can expect superior quality, in terms of product," Nilsson says. "We're a large network, and as a member of our dispensary you get the ability to get member benefits at each of our locations. We have 20 percent off our whole line, which includes everything in the store: That's flower, concentrates, edibles, all of that. We've been offering sign-over specials of $50 ounces here, in our first couple of opening weeks, and we're running a large doctors day this weekend."

If interested in the latter, the Clarion Hotel (314 W. Bijou St.) will host Roots' doctors day, where new and renewing patients can pay to see a physician between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16. Nilsson says the dispensary will offer a credit of $75 to those who sign up. Otherwise, patients can expect $125 ounces, with no "top" or "bottom" shelves, and extracts made in-house, including its award-winning shatter hash.

As far as what to expect from the additional locations, think the other kind of diesel. "We have two Conoco stations, one on the east side at Academy and Galley, and one on the west side, 17th and Uintah, that we have purchased," Nilsson says. "And we'll have a concept of gas and grass: We'll be able to sell gas to customers and non-patients alike, and be able to have a gas station and a dispensary."

Keef crumbs

• Speak Easy Vape Lounge (2508 E. Bijou St.) pushed the votes hard in our recent Indy Music Awards poll, and you can make an argument for Best Venue when they continue to host acts like Baby Bash and the coming Dead Prez, who performs Saturday, Aug. 15, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 for the 21-and-up show, which Speak Easy calls the rapper's "most intimate venue to date."

• A recent study published by the American Psychological Association followed 408 males, broken into four groups, from their teen years to their 30s.

"What we found was a little surprising," researcher Jordan Bechtold, with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, says in a press release. "There were no differences in any of the mental or physical health outcomes that we measured regardless of the amount or frequency of marijuana used during adolescence."

The APA study was published in the Aug. 3 issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.